New Jersey Devils fire coach DeBoer

Head coach Peter DeBoer of the New Jersey Devils speaks to his team during a game against the San Jose Sharks at the Prudential Center on Oct. 18, 2014 in Newark, New Jersey.

Head coach Peter DeBoer of the New Jersey Devils speaks to his team during a game against the San Jose Sharks at the Prudential Center on Oct. 18, 2014 in Newark, New Jersey. (ALEX GOODLETT, GETTY IMAGES)

Lamoriello said he would not name who DeBoer's replacement will be or discuss the firing further until after addressing the team Saturday prior to its morning skate. The Devils play Saturday night against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

All NHL teams remain off Friday from practices and games on the final day of the league's three-day Christmas break.

DeBoer had been trying to keep the Devils afloat while dealing with a host of injuries that had them playing without as many as seven regulars for much of the last two weeks. Still, they continued to struggle to score goals, protect leads and put together wins consistently.

Through their first 36 games, they are just 12-17-7 and sit nine points out of a playoff spot.

The Devils were 6-3-2 after their first 11 games, but are just 6-14-6 since then, including just three wins in their last 16 games (3-8-5). They rank 28th in the league in averaging 2.11 goals per game and rank 27th in 5-on-5 goals just 51.

Defensively and in net, they have been inconsistent. They rank 18th in goals-against average at 2.72.

The Devils failed to protect a third-period lead in seven of the last 19 games. They won only one of those games — last Friday's 3-2 shootout win over Tampa Bay.

Fittingly, DeBoer's final game behind the Devils' bench was a 2-1 shootout loss to Carolina on Tuesday night in which the team led 1-0 until Ron Hainsey's tying goal with 8:01 left in the third period. The Devils are 2-6 in the shootout this season, 2-19 over the last two seasons and 2-24 dating to March 10, 2013.

They have lost 15 consecutive shootouts on the road.

DeBoer, 46, finishes his Devils' coaching career with a 114-93-41 record. His 114 wins rank second in team history behind Jacques Lemaire's 276 and his 248 total games rank third behind Lemaire's 509 and Doug Carpenter's 290.

DeBoer guided the Devils to a 48-28-6 record and a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in his first season behind their bench in 2011-12. The team missed the playoffs the last two seasons, however, and appears to be on its way to a third consecutive season without a postseason berth for the first time since the franchise's first five seasons in New Jersey (1982-83 to 1986-87).